No foreigners for Kings

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The Southern Kings team to take on the Western Force in their debut Super Rugby game in Port Elizabeth on Saturday does not feature any foreign players in the starting line-up.

The run-on team includes three Springbok players in centre Andries Strauss, hooker Bandise Maku and captain Luke Watson, with Kenyan forward Daniel Adongo and Kiwi back Hadleigh Parkes named on the replacements bench.

The Eastern Cape franchise named five foreign players in an extended 35-man Super Rugby squad despite a SARU directive that South African sides are only allowed two, but Argentine Test players Nicolas Vergallo and Thomas Leonardi have been left out of the match-day squad along with French hooker Virgil Lacombe as all three players are currently injured.

Former Western Province Currie Cup-winning flyhalf Demetri Catrakilis will pull the strings at flyhalf, whilst out wide 2012 Craven Week star Sergeal Petersen will be hoping to make a big impression on his senior debut.